And If I Say
by Ember the Flarion
Summary: Nohara Rin died... For a little while at least. Back from the dead and on the run from friends and enemies alike, the only people that Rin can trust completely are her supposed-to-be-dead teammate Obito and her almost-murderer Kakashi. Following the guide of a dead soul that seems to know the future, team 7 travels across the elemental nations in an attempt to save the world.
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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 **Authors note:** Hello everyone! My name is Ember and welcome to And if I Say, or AIS for short. I'm going to be blunt here, I completely destroy canon in less then 150 words. I am going to be taking a lot of creative license when it comes to this story, since I want to develop some things that canon ignored. Like Jashin. The fact that we never see anything about Jashinists after Hidan is something that I find unacceptable. That being said, I am gong to be making up this entire religion based the little we got from cannon and a whole lot of head-canon. If you disagree with any of my portrayals of this religion, or you think that I'm going in the right direction with it, or you have some ideas about Jashinism that you would like to tell me about, then just leave a review! Same goes for anything in this story. With all that being said, enjoy the story

 **TL/DR: Canon divergence, and a whole lot of it**

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Ch 1 - And in the end, I join a cult

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Death is a tricky thing, and what happens afterwards is even trickier. With so many religions and gods, who knows what actually happens after you die? Those who are lucky enough that their death is only temporary usually describe some sort of white light, but any further details are usually written off as hallucinations or trauma. The death of Nohara Rin was supposed to be permanent, but a near-forgotten god was willing to help change that.

In the story that you and I know, Rin died for Konoha. The last thing she saw was Kakashi, and the last thing she felt was pain. In this particular story though, the last thing Rin saw was an alive Obito Uchiha - scars or not, Rin could recognize her teammates anywhere - and that's when Rin knew that dying was no longer an option. The last thing she felt was determination.

It was a bit late for this realization, and it would have been nice if Rin had noticed Obito before she jumped in front of the chidori. Alas, her heart stopped, and Rin died.

Technically.

This technicality has to do with the existence of spiritual chakra, because even though Rin was dead, her final thought hit her chakra coils like a tidal wave. Her spiritual chakra carried her final wish to every cell of her body and searched for a way to complete her goal. It found the solution in one of Rin's memories, the memory of her vacation to Yugakure to be exact. A crazy preacher going on and on about immortality and the power of a god named Jashin.  
All of Rin's chakra rushed to her dominant hand, pulling on tendons and making it move. Rin's hand used the blood leaking out of her chest to draw a triangle within a circle directly over the seal of the three tailed turtle. Her chakra gave one final pulse and she died.

Technically.

The three tails cursed his host, and felt his life force trickle away. He tried to hold on, but it was no use. His spirit flowed out of his dead prison, unknowingly carrying a Jashinist seal with it. So instead of being shoved head-first into the cycle of reincarnation, The three tails got to meet a god.

Jashin sat upon his throne, and was a bit surprised when his symbol appeared before him. At the moment, his followers were not living up to his godly expectations, and his power was running low due to lack of sacrifices.

When someone died, their physical chakra went back into the earth from which it came. Their spiritual chakra however, was delivered to whatever god they believed in (An atheists' spiritual chakra just goes into the earth along with their physical chakra). The jashinist seal delivered spiritual chakra to Jashin and the more pain they were in at the time of death, the more friction their chakra makes, and the more energy and power Jashin gets from the spirit. He uses this power to try and fix the mistakes of idiots. Idiot humans none the less.

Back in the days when this world began, he was the most powerful of the gods. Then Kaguya Ōtsutsuki had the audacity to sneak into his garden, eat his fruit, and give chakra to the humans. The 10 tails appeared, and usually Jashin would have helped the humans. This time, Jashin was pissed. The humans want chakra? Fine, they can have it! They would have to deal with the ten tails by themselves, but they can keep their chakra. It seemed like a fair deal to him, and surprisingly the humans were able to deal with the 10 tails. Or, one human was able to deal with it.

Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki had been a pain in Jashin's side for centuries. A human getting promoted to god-status was almost unheard of, but here he was. Followed by almost all ninja, the sage of six paths had more influence over the ninja world then Jashin did, which is absolute bullshit if you ask Jashin. Hagoromo stole so much of Jashin's power, and for what? He wasn't even using it properly, and that was creating ripples in the world that Jashin tries so hard to preserve. Thanks to the idiot that is ruling the world, (and in all fairness, Hagoromo has never ruled a world before and is doing pretty well for his first try) time occasionally warps unexpectedly, immortality is achievable to anyone that works hard enough, and physics are defied on a daily basis.

Chaos, absolute chaos. But you know what they say: If you can't beat them, join them.

So Jashin became the god of chaos, and allowed his power to be drained just to try and keep things in balance. His (pathetically few) followers were able to keep his power levels high enough not to be drained completely, but Jashin was running on fumes.

So, Jashin sat upon his throne, and was a bit surprised when his symbol appeared before him. The burst of power that rushed through the symbol was incredible, and Jashin drank it in gratefully. The power was that of the three tailed demon turtle, and he couldn't have been happier to have it back. Looking down on his symbol to determine who provided him with the sacrifice, he was greeted with the sight of a fourteen year old human with a hole in her chest.

He looked at her skeptically, annoyed that she hadn't said a single prayer, when even more power rushed through the seal.

A boy was killing in her name, and her name belonged to Jashin, so the energy of an entire platoon of Kiri-nin flowed into his being.

Deciding that he -just this once- could forgive her for not praying, he started to use his new energy to revive her. He decided to give make her one of his priestesses, since returning the biju to him is a behavior that he wanted to encourage.

Being a priestess of Jashin, she was able to gain immortality. Not full immortality, that was reserved for only the high priests and priestesses, but a form. The version he would give her in reward for sending Isobu to him was a soul-for-soul immortality. For every life she took in his name, she would get an extra life to use. He gave her the thirty four souls of the kiri nin to start with and gave her accelerated healing as a bonus.

With all of that worked out, Jashin flicked his fingers and sent Rin's soul back into her body.

Something was wrong, though. The seal on her stomach demanded energy, and Jashin was not willing to give back the three tails, so he looked around and found a soul in the white light. A soul without much energy that only belonged to him because of the curses they shouted when they stubbed their toe. He picked up the small soul and looked at it, seeing that in its former life it was an unremarkable female. He shoved the soul into the seal and sat back on his throne.

With his work completed, Jashin leaned back in his throne and turned to the confused turtle sitting before him.

Things seemed to be finally looking up for him.

* * *

For Kayla Smith, it seemed as though things couldn't get much worse. She died at the tender age of twenty three, and was seeing the white light that was so famous when all of a sudden that light was replaced with a giant cave.

Kayla looked around her new world, and was unimpressed. When she died, she was expecting more then just a cave. Granted, the cave was very large and could probably hold a few football fields, but unless ones hobby is spelunking, it is pretty hard to be impressed by a large cave after getting so many ideas of heaven and hell stuck in ones head. Kayla sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose, and counted slowly to ten. Once she was calm enough to think anything beyond 'I was promised an afterlife, and all I got was this shitty cave', she looked around said shitty cave. Kayla was no geologist, so she had no idea what kind of rock her cave was made of. The floor was covered in water, that when tasted turned out to be salt water. Kayla mentally reprimanded herself for tasting unknown cave water, before licking the wall as well. It was less salty then the water, but salty none the less. The lighting in the cave was pathetic, so Kayla placed her hand on the wall and started walking.

After an indistinguishable amount of time, an out of breath Kayla made it to somewhere other then a salty wall. She walked straight into a forcefield, which she spent a good few minutes cursing at.

"…And I am stuck in a jashin damn cave an a mother fucking forcefield appears! That is bullshit! Complete and utter bullshit!" She finished yelling, more out of breath then ever. Peering to the other side of the forcefield Kayla saw a fourteen year old female laying on the ground. Kayla's eyes widened and she pounded against the forcefield, trying to get to the bruised and bloodied girl.

"Hey kid! Wake up!" Kayla yelled. She was no medical professional, but she was pretty sure that sleeping with that many untreated injuries made waking up very hard. Kayla backed up and kicked the forcefield, working hard to break the invisible wall.

"Stop." A soothing voice said from behind Kayla. Spinning on her heel, Kayla turned to face the voice and found a male with black hair and…

Kayla looked the man over and raised her eyebrows.

A male with black hair and no clothes.

Focusing on the man's face, a rather nice face with long eyelashes and a firm jawline, Kayla frowned and cocked her head to the side.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I am Jashin." he answered.

"Who is she?" Kayla pointed at the fourteen year old behind the forcefield.

"Her name is Nohara Rin." Jashin replied

"Can you get past the force field?"

"Yes, I ca-" Kayla cut Jashin off, grabbing his wrist and pulling him to the forcefield.

"Then go get her! Make sure she's okay!" Kayla said, shoving Jashin at the forcefield with all her strength.

Jashin stumbled, more out of surprise then the physical prowess of the human, but went to Rin nonetheless. He put a few fingers on Rin's pulse point and messed with Rin's astral projection, making it show a girl sleeping comfortably rather then a ninja clinging to life.

"The human girl is fine." He lied. Jashin knew full well that when Rin woke up, she would have to deal with the pain of a hole in her chest. Yes, Rin would live and eventually be 'fine', but as of the moment, Rin was definitely not 'fine'. Jashin walked back into the cave and focused on the young woman who he shoved into a seal. After confirming that Rin was alright, the strange woman had sat down in the water and stared at it. She leaned down and stuck her tongue out and was she licking the water? Jashin sighed, looked at the woman and reaffirmed his theory that humans are strange creatures, and sat down in front of her.

Kayla looked up from her taste test and stuck her tongue back in her mouth. The pretty blue eyes of Jashin stared back at her condescendingly.

"I was checking to see if it was ocean water or just a salt lake." Kayla said, as if that explained everything. Jashin sighed, running his fingers through his hair in exasperation.

'It matters not." he said in a tone that expressed just how unimpressed he was with the human's excuse. Sitting down infant of the girl, he squared his shoulders and tried to find a way to explain the situation to the human.

"Now, human-"  
"The Name is Kayla"

"-Now, Kayla…" Jashin paused for a few seconds, making sure that the girl wouldn't interrupt him again. When he saw her grey-blue eyes focused on him and her mouth closed, Jashin took a deep breath and continued.

"Kayla, you may be wondering why you are in a cave instead of the afterlife-"

"-Wait, so this isn't the end? I wont be bored for the rest of eternity?!" Kayla shouted and Jashin gave her a dull look. Her jaw snapped shut and she bowed her head.

"Ehe, sorry. Please continue." She said, looking back at Jashin. He cleared his throat and continued from where it left off.

"-You may be wondering why you are in a cave instead of the afterlife. The explanation is simple; your necklace."

Kayla looked down, touching the pendent around her neck, a simple silver pendent of a triangle within a circle, same as the one Hidan wore in her favorite Anime. Kayla always wore the necklace in order to covertly contact other Naruto fans, since anyone who didn't watch Naruto would see a pretty necklace but those who did would be able to identify a fellow fan. She palmed the pendant and tilted her head in question.

"My necklace?"

"Yes. The necklace you wear is my symbol, you curse in my name, and your soul came to my realm when you died-"

"Wait! So I'm in this shitty cave because I said your name when I stubbed my fucking toe?! And that means… Oh my Jashin, you're Jashin! I mean you told me that earlier but I didn't think you meant that Jashin! Wait, does this mean Naruto is real? Because if Naruto is real then that is not okay because I cried like a fucking baby when Itachi died and-" "QUIET!"

Kayla's eyes were wide and wild, staring at Jashin with disbelief and confusion. She gnawed on the inside of her cheek and her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Jashin remained calm, hoping to soothe her enough that he could speak a full sentence without getting interrupted.

" Yes, this is the same universe that you watched as a recreational activity. Itachi has not yet been born, so-"

"So I know the future?!" This time, Jashin gave the girl a dirty look but otherwise ignored the interruption.

"-Time is not linear, and ideas can cross through all universes in the form of dreams, so it is entirely possible that you saw the future of this universe in your old life. Now, as I was saying, Itachi has not yet ben born, therefore his fate can veer from the path that you have seen. In fact, this universe has already deviated from the one you have watched."

Jashin paused, waiting for Kayla's response. He had no desire to be interrupted again, which means that this needed to be a conversation, not a lecture.

"How has it changed?" She asked, picking up on her cue. Jashin smiled, giving her positive reinforcement for pushing the conversation in the correct direction.

"To be straight, the difference is a girl named Nohara Rin…"

Jashin gestured to the sleeping girl on the other side of the forcefield.

' …I am not particularly sure what you saw in your universe, but I assume that this girl is dead, correct?"

"Yeah, she's dead in the show, and her death set off this huge chain of events that led to-"

Jashin held a finger to the girls lips, not needing a long explanation and wanting to get to his main point.

"In this world, that girl is very much alive. She is a priestess of mine. Not a high priestess, mind you, in fact she barely made the cut for a regular priestess. Nevertheless, she is holy enough to be granted temporary immortality."

Jashin paused again, waiting patently for the girl's response. She counted to three in her head to make sure that Jashin was done speaking - after all, it wouldn't be good to piss off a god - then started speaking.

"Temporary immortality? How does that work?"

Jashin nodded at her, showing that she once again pushed the conversation in what he deemed the correct direction.

"It is what I call 'trade immortality'. This means that for every life Rin takes in my name, she gets an extra life. If she dies enough times in battle that her lives reach zero, then she will die for good and both your souls will be transported to my realm. Understand?"

Kayla nodded and decided to add her own two cents.

"So, like a video game, right?"

"Precisely."

"Cool!"

Jashin smiled, happy that the girl caught on so quickly. The girl smiled back, hoping to get in the god's good graces so that she could leave the cave she was in.

"Now, you see those marks on the wall?" Jashin said, gesturing to the aforementioned wall.

"Yep."

"I have put tallies there for your convenience. Those tallies represent the amount of lives that Rin has at any given moment. Understand?"

"MmmmmHmmm."

"Good. Now the last thing you need to know before I leave you to your own devices is that the place you are in is called a mindscape. This one belongs to Rin, and it contains all of her memories, emotions, and many other things that are what make Rin herself. Since you have taken up residence here, her mindscape is also partially yours to control. This cave use to house the three tailed beast and be under custody of Kirigakure, but now is entirely yours, and it is in my custody. This means that I can give you rights to organize it however you like. Just focus and imagine what you want, and it shall be so."

Now, Kayla was exited. She apparently had full control over this cave, and that means that she could get her laptop back.

"Start with something simple. Try to make some lighting in the cave." Jashin instructed patently. Kayla smiled and nodded, concentrating. Soon enough, the entire cave was bathed in a soft candle light from the golden chandelier that now hung from the celling. Jashin raised a brow.

"Impressive." He said in a deadpan. Kayla fidgeted.

"Well, you told me that I could do whatever I wanted, sooooo…." She trailed off awkwardly before changing the chandelier into less extravagant celling lights.

Jashin sighed and swept a lock of black hair out of his face. His eyebrows pinched together, and he knew that he would regret his next question, because, although necessary, with this human there was no telling what her answer would be.

"Any questions?"

Jashin paused, watching closely as Kayla's eyes drifted upward as she thought about what questions to ask.

" Actually, I do have a few. The first is about why I need to know all of this stuff? Why cant you just tell Rin herself?"

Jashin was mildly surprised that an illogical person such as Kayla seemed to be was able to come up with such a logical question, but was prepared to answer none the less.

"It is because you are In a place between realms. You see, it is very hard for me to communicate with anyone that is fully alive. You act as a gateway between myself and the rest of the world."

Kayla nodded in understanding.

"That makes sense, but my next question is, why would I want to keep Rin alive? I don't like being stuck in a cave! So why would I purposefully make my stay longer?"

Jashin blinked, once again not expecting the question.

"The longer you keep her alive, the more I will reward you in death." He said smoothly. Humans were greedy creatures and, just as he predicted, the bribe worked.

Kayla mulled it over, and decided that her situation wasn't to terrible. It kinda sucked, but in the end, it would all be worth it.

"Okay, last question…"

Kayla paused, thinking of a polite way to word her concern, In the end, she decided to be perfectly blunt.

"Why are you naked?"

Jashin was once again baffled by the odd human, but answered the question none the less.

"I have many forms, some of which do not involve clothing. Does this make you uncomfortable?" He asked, not wanting the human to be at anything but her peak performance.

She shook her head. "Nah, It doesn't bother me. Im Ace, so that shit doesn't particularly matter. I was just curious."

"Ace?" Jashin asked, unfamiliar with the girl's slang.

"Ya know, Asexual. Lack of sex drive in my case. There are many breeds of Ace though, I, personally, am an Ace of clubs if you know what I'm saying.

Jashin did not know what she was saying, nor did he particularly care. He nodded at the girl, pretending to know exactly what she was saying, and prepared himself to leave.

"If you have any more questions later on, you can contact me by drawing my symbol. A form of myself will be here shortly to speak to you. Your other option for getting answers is this." Here, Jashin put his hand palm-side up and a thick scroll appeared in it.

"Whats that?" Kayla asked expectantly.

"It is a scroll containing information on myself and the religion that follows me."

"So, like, a Jashinist bible?"

"Precisely. As for any information you need on Ninja and the elemental nations, you will be able to access Rin's memories. If you want any additional information on that, then I ask that you contact Rin before calling me." Jashin finished.

"And how do I contact Rin?" Kayla asked.

"It's your mindscape, so you will be able to contact Rin in whatever way makes sense to you. Now, I must go."

With that, Jashin disappeared, sending memories of the encounter to all of his active forms.

Kayla, on the other hand, settled down and tried to gather her thoughts. Meeting a god was exiting and all, but Kayla needed some time to calm down. After all, she just died, and as that fact settled in her head and realization dawned on her, she started sniffling. Sniffling turned to crying, and crying turned to ugly sobbing and heaving as Kayla realized that she would never see her friends again. So, in the middle of her own mind, Kayla started to mourn her own death.

* * *

Another person having a mental breakdown happened to be Uchiha Obito, who had recently finished killing a platoon of Kiri nin and was now hovering over Rin. He cradled her, placing her head on his lap and brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, only to recoil when his hand left a streak of red on her face.

"Guruguru? I…" Obito started, wanting to feel Rin one last time, wanting to make absolutely sure that she was… no longer with him.

The plant man understood, uncoiling from around Obito and stepping back. He left himself open, ready for when Obito realized that Rin was cold and needed a full-body hug and protection. He would then transport Obito to Madara, and whatever happened after that, he would stay with Obito and act as a shield against the rest of the world. Guruguru considered Obito a friend, and it was painful for the plant to see Obito's face fall when he touched Rin's cheek and realized that her skin was no longer warm.

Obito had no idea what to do. Rin was… was… cold. And Bakashi was the one to do it to her! Why though? Why would he do that to Rin?

Tears gathered in Obito's eye and fell onto Rin's cheek. The dead girl flinched at the feeling, and Obito was very confused because dead people aren't supposed to move.

"R…Rin-chan?" Obito said in a whisper. His breath made a hair tickle the dead girl's nose, and she sneezed.

Now, Obito was officially freaked out. He could see the hole in her chest. He watched as her dead body went limp. He was there when she breathed her last breath. Obito looked closer and noticed shallow, wheezing breaths starting to rack her body. He placed a hand on her cheek, drawing in a sharp breath when her realized that, in only a matter of moments, she went from the cold clutches of death to warm and getting warmer.

Rin was in pain. Like, a lot of pain. Her chest was killing her… or at least it should be. Rin opened an eye, squinting at the world.

 _"Welcome back to the land of the living sweetie."_ Kayla called into Rin's mind. "Your lucky to be there."

Rin, who had no idea that a soul now resided in her gut and was in too much pain to think straight, mistook Kayla's voice for her own thoughts. Odd thoughts, since Rin's vision was slowly getting less blurry and she couldn't see if she was in the land of living or somewhere else entirely, but Rin's muddled mind couldn't fathom anything else and took in the new information gratefully.

Vision that started at black slowly got more and more color. Blurred faces swam into focus and static faded, replaced with a desperate voice.

"…Rin-chan! Rin-chan! Rin-chan!…" Obito repeated her name like it was a lifeline. He had watched as one of her eyes peeked open, pupil dilating and locking in on his face. He watched as the glassy eye tracked his movements automatically, before slowly regaining the shining light of Rin's consciousness behind it.

"Oh…bee…toh?" Rin faced her vocal chords into action, responding to her name through the static and ignoring the pain of breathing as best she could.

Obito drew in a harsh breath, wondering if he had only imagined the movement of Rin's blood-stained lips. Wondering if her had only imagined the rough and painfully slow way that his name was recited. His sharingan eye tracked the shallow rise and fall of Rin's chest to confirm that she was actually alive despite all odds. Alive despite the gaping hole in her chest, alive despite him watching as Kakashi's hand go straight through her body, alive alivE AliVE ALIVE!

"Yes, Rin-chan?" He said, an inner mantra of 'alive' playing in the back of his head.

"Ah…Alive? Are you and I… Alive?" Rin forced out. Something - Kayla - had told her that she had survived, but she wanted reassurance. She blinked, opening both eyes instead of just one this time, and waited patently for them to focus on what was undeniably Obito's face. Spots of black flitted in and out of her vision, but settled after a few more blinks.

More tears streamed down Obito's face, this time tears of joy, as he responded to Rin's question. "Yes!…Yes, we are both alive!"

When Obito confirmed that they were both not dead, Rin made the mistake of sighing in relief, and got a painful reminder of why it's not a good idea to move with broken ribs. Making a few hand signs, Rin fired up her mystic palm jutsu and started to undo the damage to her chest.

Bones were tricky things that didn't like to cooperate with medics. They were one of the hardest things for medic nin to fix, as well as one of the most frustrating. Rin began the process by using her chakra to push the bones into place and hold them there. Then, she began to connect both pieces of bone together, stimulating cell growth and trying to make the two pieces of bone fuse into one. Rin got a pleasant surprise when her bones didn't fight her, but instead offered their full cooperation in the healing process. They eagerly reattached themselves, using medical chakra to guide them, and fused together flawlessly. Rin was a bit confused when she noticed that the bone was almost completely healed within minutes. She moved on to the next rib, and was once again pleasantly surprised when it practically fixed itself.

 _"The benefits of being a medic-nin with accelerated healing."_ A voice - Kayla - answered Rin's unasked question. Rin's groggy mind once again accepted the information without questioning it's source. "Heal up that hole in your lung next. Then you should be able to breathe without too much pain. If you have enough chakra left after that, then start putting your heart back together."

Rin followed the instructions obediently, finishing up with her ribs before repairing her lung. Her chakra reserve had gone from completely full to a bit more then halfway empty by the time she had finished her lung, so she left her heart as-is until she had enough chakra to repair in full. The final thing Rin did before releasing her mystic palm jutsu was growing a layer of skin over the wound. Not only did this layer of skin protect her from infection and help keep the wound clean, but it also had the added bonuses of preventing a scar and keeping Obito from gaping at it.

Speaking of Obito, the Uchiha had waited patently as Rin healed herself. In fact, he used the time to calm his nerves and wipe away the tears from his face. By the time Rin had finished, Obito was… tired. His chakra reserves were practically empty, his muscles were sore, and emotionally…

Emotionally he was exhausted to the point that he wasn't sure anything could phase him. His Sharingan was deactivated, and a single sleepy black eye tracked Rin's movements.

The forgotten Guruguru had recoiled himself by now and, unnoticed by Rin and Obito, walked closer to the girl who should be dead. Humans confused the plant man, but he was sure that coming back from a stab through the heart wasn't possible for the delicate creatures. Then again, Madara had survived the same thing, so perhaps it wasn't that uncommon? Ether way, Guruguru was nervous. Unless the girl agreed with plan tsukuyomi, he was going to have some problems. Unfortunately for Guruguru, he was unattached to Zetsu's network at the moment and therefore could not contact any of his subordinates. All he could do was watch Rin and Obito. That, and hope for the best.

Deciding to break the silence, Guruguru spoke. "Hey Obito, is this the 'Rin' you have been talking about?"

Obito and Rin both looked up, black and brown eyes meeting his mask in a strange stare off. Obito blinked and relaxed, a smile playing over his lips for the first time in a while. Rin, on the other hand, only tensed further as her thoughts - Kayla - told her that this thing was up to no good.

"Yeah, I forgot to introduce you two didn't I? Rin, thats Guruguru. Guruguru, this is Rin. Oh, and Guruguru, that guy over there is Bakashi." Obito pointed at the unconscious body of Kakashi and Rin tensed even further. She forced herself to relax and forced a calm smile onto her face. She sat up, nearly falling down again as blood rushed from her head, and gave a nod to Guruguru.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Guruguru-san." Rin said in a scratchy voice. Her previously foggy mind had sharpened in the face of this new threat, and it reeled to make a suitable escape plan.

 _"All you need to do is grab Kakashi and Obito, then run like mad._ " Kayla said, rather unhelpfully. Rin wished she had a more specific plan, but knew that this would have to do.

Rin stood up on wobbly legs and paused, waiting for her dizziness to pass before attempting anything else. She felt a familiar hand on her back - Obito's hand - steadying her and keeping her stable. Even when Rin found that she could stand on her own, Obito kept his hand in-between her shoulder blades. Rin glanced back at him and smiled before removing his hand from her back and lacing their fingers together. A light blush colored his cheeks and the tips of his ears, and he found comfort in the warmth of her palm. A warmth that meant that she was alive and perhaps watching Bakashi kill her was nothing but a bad dream? A sharp reminder from his sharingan proved that, no, this was not a dream and Bakashi was more of a bastard then Obito had ever expected. Obito felt Rin's hand give him a reassuring squeeze, and he noticed that his grip on her had turned his knuckles white. He loosened his grip and gave her a squeeze back to tell her that he was ok.

Guruguru watched the exchange with bated breath, or at least he would have if he had any breath that could be bated. He knew that his posture held no tension, and his face was blank. They couldn't be anything else. Really, he didn't even have eyes, so watching the exchange wasn't something that should be possible for him. His vision was perfect, and he could see clearly, but it really shouldn't be possible. So, Guruguru, with his not-breath and impossible sight, simply took in the nonverbal conversation taking place between his friend and the girl. He envied how her hands could feel and how her smile held teeth. He envied her facial expressions and warm skin and ability to go to the bathroom, which according to Obito, was a surprisingly pleasant experience. All of this envy simply reaffirmed his conviction to make Madara's plan a success.

He started by distracting the girl, trying to throw off her guard with open body language and questions about poop. It worked on Obito, and he could use a new friend. Every time he thought he had broken through her shell though, Her eyes would harden and shields return. Obito noticed none of it, oblivious to the underlying tension between Rin and Guruguru.

Guruguru and Rin did not blame Obito for this. They could see the exhaustion in his posture, and were both doing their best to be discreet for his sake.

"So, I was told that pooping was quite the experience! I wanted a second opinion though, since between you and me, I think Obito might be just a little bias." The plant man would say, all laughs and implied smiles. Obito would blush, and try to stop the plant from saying anything that he deemed embarrassing. Rin laughed along with Guruguru before adding her own two cents.

"How do you not know? You do have a digestive track, right?" Rin would reply, all innocence on the outside but a carefully planned move laying just underneath. She gave Guruguru a look-see, obviously moving her eyes over him from head to toe.

"You're not quite human, are you Guruguru-san?"

"Nope! Ya got me there Rin-chan!"

"Then what exactly are you?"

Here Guruguru was forced to cleverly divert the conversation or risk giving the girl too much information. Her once-over was done with a medic's eye, and he knew the dangers of her spotting any weakness.

"How rude Rinny-chan! I can call you Rinny-chan, right Rinny-chan?"

She relented to the nickname easily, and Obito seemed pleased that his friends were getting along so well. He relaxed, leaning on Rin and thinking how nice it would be to go back to Konoha and sleep in an actual bed. See all of his old friends, get some candy from the sweet old lady that always had trouble crossing the street, get some food from the akimichi vendors…

Obito's daydreaming continued, and he zoned out of the conversation entirely.

Guruguru, on the other hand, was getting frustrated. It didn't seem Rin wanted to be friends with him, which was a shame. He truly didn't want to hurt the girl, but if she didn't cooperate then he would be forced to take action. It seemed that her window of opportunity to stop being stubborn was coming to a close, and soon he would have to get Obito back to Madara and eliminate the girl. It was a shame that Madara would have to break Obito to the point where he would continue with the plan, despite seeing Rin killed in front of him for the second time, this time by Guruguru himself.

The plant man formed a wooden spike underneath the skin of his hand and gave Rin one last chance.

"Rinny-winny-chinny-chan, I have a reeeeeeaaaaaallyyyy good idea! You should come meet Obito-chan's new friends! Because, ya know, after you took out his sharingan and left him under a rock to die, then never looked for him and left him all alone, he got some new friends! Like me! Oh, Im sure the others will love you!" He said, watching her reactions carefully.

Guruguru had to admit, the girl was good. She didn't tense once, and never alerted Obito to her distress. (The boy was practically asleep on Rin's shoulder, and their conversation only registered as white noise to him.) Rin's eyes sharpened when he mentioned that he had reinforcements. Her free hand twitched, flicking over to where her kunai holster should have been. A slight turn of Rin's lip showed her dislike of not having a pointy-thing on hand to stab Guruguru with, but her expression leveled out after only a second. Next, her shoulders drooped slightly with guilt. Her eyebrows scrunched slightly and her brown eyes flicked from Guruguru to Obito. They flicked back quickly when Guruguru once again mentioned his backup. The corners of her lip twitched downward, and her free hand once again reached for a nonexistent kunai. Her eyes narrowed, but she otherwise stayed completely relaxed.

Thats when Guruguru knew that she was going to stay stubbornly against him. He would have frowned in disappointment if he had a mouth to frown with, and he silently mourned the loss of a new friend. He was tempted to do something dramatic, like saying goodbye to Rin before killing her, but decided to give no warning. The wooden spike burst from the palm of his hand, he lunged, the girl's eyes widened, and…

…and he went right through her.

Obito noticed when Rin's chakra flickered in the same pattern that it always did when she was preparing for battle. When he looked up from his half-nap, he saw Guruguru lunging at them. His sharingan flared to life and the mangekyo activated. Both himself and Rin became intangible only seconds before Guruguru could make his killing blow.

The plant man whirled, looking back at the shocked Rin and the even more shocked Obito.

"Guruguru… Why?" Obito said sadly. Guruguru knew that Obito would be crying if he had any tears left to shed.

"Obito, you waste your tears on that girl. Is she really worth all that much?" Guru guru asked, his voice serious for the first time that Obito had ever heard it.

Voice trembling, Obito replied.

"She is to me."

Rin's eyes went wide and her grip on Obito's hand tightened. Obito squeezed back, reassuring Rin that he was okay. Rin didn't believe him.

Guruguru lunged again, but it was futile. Every attack he made simply went right through them. Scowling, or at least he would have been scowling if he had a mouth, Guruguru howled with frustration.

"You can't stay like that forever!" He shouted, once again stabbing at Rin's chest.

 _"Guruguru's right. Obito is exhausted and even after over a decade of practice, he was only ever able to stay intangible for only a few minutes. Rin, you need to get Obito out of there!"_ Kayla said. She watched though Rin's eyes, and bit her lip in worry when Guruguru lunged at them once again.

Rin tightened her grip on Obito's hand before spinning on her heel and running in the direction of Kakashi's unconscious body.

"Come on Obito! We have to get Kakashi and get out of here!" She called over her shoulder.

"Why? Rin that bastard nearly killed you! Why do you want to save him?"

Rin scowled, noticing Guruguru change his trajectory and start running towards Kakashi.

"No time to explain! I promise that once we are all safe I'll catch you up, okay?!"

Rin saw Obito nod in her peripheral, and so she concentrated all her attention on getting to Kakashi. Obito sent more chakra to his eye, and prepared to enter a third person into his Kamui. They got to him only seconds before Guruguru, and turned him intangible before Guruguru's spike hit his skin.

 _"Go to the border of Wind and River country. Guruguru and his kind can travel through plants and water using the mayfly technique, so the desert is the place to be."_

Rin hoisted Kakashi over her shoulder, thankful for the extra taijutsu training that Gai put her through, before turning to Obito and whispering.

"We need to get to the border of Wind and River as fast as possible. How fast are you able to go?" She asked. Obito checked his chakra levels and decided that there was enough to use his new transportation jutsu.

"Really fast. Just keep a hold on me and Bakashi."

Guruguru watched in horror as a whirling pattern appeared in the space around team seven. He knew that there was nothing he could do, so he ran to the trees at the edge of the clearing and reattached himself to Zetsu's network.

He watched as the last piece of Obito swirled out of existence and felt nervousness bubble up inside him.

"Guruguru." Zetsu said in greeting and Guruguru felt the nervousness increase ten fold.

"Eheh, Zetsu?"

"Yes?"

"We may have a bit of a problem…"

* * *

 **Authors note:** Well there you have it! Hope you all liked the first chapter of AIS. To everyone coming here from UV, hello and thanks for following me all this way! To all of my new readers, Its a pleasure to meet you! :)

Reviews let me know that actual people like my story, and its not just the government trying to trick me. (Also they make me happy. Like, really happy.)

Shout out to the amazing author of 'Starting out at six feet under': Sonyat! Her fic is what inspired me to take Rin and keep her alive, and she was even nice enough to help me improve my writing.

Remember to Fave/Follow/Review

-Ember


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